The First Snowfall
by ilovetvalot
Summary: Written in response to Kavi & Sienna's TV challenge for Dec. Millennium "The Sound of Snow". When Emily disappears, where is she found. Emily/Hotch


_**Author's Note: Loyal readers, it may be a day or so before my next posting. My Xmas cookies won't bake themselves. No matter how hard I try to wish it so.**_

**The First Snowfall**

**Prompt: Millennium: "The Sound of Snow"**

As Hotch walked through the endless corridors of the Federal building on his way to the BAU's bullpen, his thoughts were consumed with the briefing he'd just received from Strauss and her subordinates. Typical bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. But it had been a requirement and like a good little g-man he'd soldiered through the past hour and a half with a stiff upper lip. Now, maybe he could get back to his real job – catching bad guys. Or at least picking out the bad guy he wanted to hunt for next.

Pushing through the glass doors, he did an automatic head count. He found Rossi and JJ in deep debate over a file she held in her hands. Morgan and Reid were doing their not unusual brotherly bickering over who ate the last donut while Penelope Garcia mediated with a talented hand. Eyes traveling to Emily Prentiss' desk, he frowned.

Empty.

Stepping closer, he spotted her keys resting in their usual corner, her purse still resting on the floor and her coat still draped over the back of her chair. Looking around, he did a quick scan of the pen. Still no magically appearing Emily.

"Hey, guys!" he called, the serious sound of his voice catching his team's collective attention. "Anybody know where Prentiss went?"

"She was just here," Morgan said, furrowing his brow as his eyes rested on her empty desk chair.

"Did she have an appointment?" Reid asked, his eye glancing around the room, confused as he suddenly realized that his team mate had escaped his attention.

"Nope, my little Boy Wonder. She was supposed to have lunch with me in," Penelope chirped, glancing down at her watch, making a face as she registered the time, "actually, we were supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago."

"I haven't seen her," Rossi said in his trademark gravelly voice as he shook his dark head, leaning against the edge of Prentiss' empty desk.

"Hotch," JJ said quietly, taking a step forward and looking over her Unit Chief's shoulder. "Look outside. It's snowing. The first one of the year."

Inwardly groaning, Hotch turned, staring out the bank of windows at the fine mist of snowflakes falling from the side.

"Whose turn is it?" Morgan groaned, leaning back in his desk chair, crossing his arms behind his bald head.

"I'll go. How long do you think?" Hotch asked JJ quietly, reaching for Emily's coat. He and the team were all well acquainted with Emily Prentiss' proclivity for snow. Too many years spent abroad in arid climates had given his young agent a well-defined fascination with that particular form of precipitation.

"No more than half an hour," JJ replied softly with a knowing look at her boss. "You'd better grab her gloves, too. Top-," she said stopping abruptly as Hotch reached for the top right drawer of Em's desk. "Never mind," she grinned, watching his purposeful movements.

"One day we're going to find her frozen to that park bench she sits on," Rossi muttered as Aaron passed him on the way out the door.

"Not if I can help it," Hotch mumbled back, hurrying toward the elevator, mentally estimating the amount of time Emily could have been in the great outdoors, hoping that his calculations were far greater than the actualities.

He found her five minutes later in the same location he always found her in during a snowfall, the park bench directly across the street from the Federal Building. He honestly had considered having a plaque installed on this particular piece of park furniture, something sedate and dignified that would inform any and all that this area was reserved for one Emily Prentiss. Approaching her quietly, he realized that she never ceased to captivate him, especially when her face wore that expression, a cross between wistful bliss and dreamy optimism. There were only two times it fell across her face, after they'd made love or during a snowfall.

She smiled as he dropped her heavy wool coat around her shoulders. "Aaron," she sighed, her eyes not wavering from the sky above as she snuggled into the deep warmth of the cashmere.

"How'd you guess?" he asked softly, moving around the bench to drop to the seat beside her, scooting as close as propriety would allow when they were sitting in front of their office building. In their world, there were always eyes watching, from right next to them or from far up in the atmosphere.

"Because you're the one that's sought me out ninety percent of the time during my little forays into the Winter Wonderland that is DC," she replied, offering him a quick smile before turning her eyes heavenward again. "Plus, I smelled your cologne."

"Ah," he breathed, his eyes resting lovingly on her face. Sitting silently beside her for a few moments, he asked in a hushed tone, "Will you explain to me again what your obsession with snow is?"

Laughing lightly, she turned her eyes again to him. "You know all about my reasons."

"Tell me again," he smiled, his breath coming in clouds in the freezing air.

"Look at it…listen to it," Emily shrugged, staring out over the white unblemished grounds before them as she shifted ever so slightly closer to his warmth.

"It's white and it makes no sound, Prentiss," Hotch smirked, knowing what her response would be before she ever opened her mouth.

"It's has the color of purity and it sounds like peace. It sounds like tranquility. It has the perfect sound," she corrected, a soft smile tilting the corners of her mouth, watching one particularly large snowflake float right in front of her eyes. "Open your ears, Aaron. What do you hear?"

"The purity of silence," he whispered, his eyes more than content to watch her.

"Exactly," Emily breathed, her words almost whispered in the frigid air. "Tell me that's not the most beautiful things in the world."

"I can't," he said, shaking his head, a smile playing around the corners of his set lips. "I'm looking at the most beautiful thing in my world," he said reverently, reaching out a hand to cover hers, damning any thoughts of propriety.

"Sometimes, you still manage to amaze me," Emily said, lacing her cold fingers with his, wondering for a moment why she always forgot her gloves on days like this. "But thank you."

Shaking his head, Hotch replied softly, somberly, rubbing his thumb against her freezing palm. "Never thank me for the truth, Emily. Now come on. Let's get this day done. I want to spend some time tonight with my own personal snow angel."

"Finally, an offer I could never refuse," Emily smiled, rising to follow the man she loved back inside, her footsteps tracking in the pure snow.

_**FINIS**_


End file.
